The GHS Pirates made a long trip to Northern New Mexico and took on the Taos Tigers (2-5, 00) in a memorable fashion as Andres Lazos struck paydirt and ran 75 yards for a kickoff return for touchdown and followed up with two-point conversion to allow for the Pirates to come in from behind and take the onepoint win in the waning moments of the fourth quarter. Pirate with their third “W” in a row.
“So the fourth quarter was very tight and created a lot of high anxiety for both teams I think. I love how our kids rose to the occasion though—they never stopped battling and were able to create opportunities to finish the game,” said GHS football head coach Steve Brown of that exciting game.
“Noah Lundstrom’s second interception of the game was huge for us and shows me that the kids are learning the gravity of different situations during the game and are not shying away from opportunities that they may have been intimidated by in the past,” said Brown.
The Pirates were tied 7-7 in the first quarter and trailed 14-13 at the half. The Pirates trailed at the end of the third quarter 20-13 after a Taos touchdown. They rallied for 15 points in the fourth quarter while holding the Tigers to one touchdown.
“Taos is built a lot like us–they want to be able to throw to open up the run game and unfortunately, they were able to do that against us at times. I love how our defense stepped up when they had to and were able to create stops in critical times of the game,” said Brown of his team’s permanence.
“I'm super proud of our team's grit and fight— they have worked hard all season, and looking back, these kids had to learn how to play a complete game again and what it takes to compete through the final whistle— this is all good stuff because we are facing the number four ranked Silver Colts this week, and needless to say, we will again be the underdog in this contest, as we should be,” said Brown. “Until we can prove we belong in big games, we will continue to be the unfavored, and we are ok with that.”
Pirate notables in that last game were: Andres Lazos who had, 22 Carries for 211yards and three rushing TDs. Lazos also had the game winning TD which was a 75-yard kickoff return for a TD and then he also scored the two-point conversion.
Noah Lundstrom was 2-3 on PATs and was responsible for two interceptions on defense. The second interception was ultimately the one that gave the Pirates the opportunity to kill the clock at the end and secure a Pirate victory.
Larry Meador led the Pirate defense with 17 tackle and Joe Clawson had eight tackles with two TFL’s and two sacks.
Next up for the Pirates will be a home district game against the Silver 52,0-0 Colts on Friday, October 13.
Cibola Sports Roundup
The Lady Pirates volleyball team are 7-7,0-0 after a weekend of games. They lost to Aztec High School 3-0 (25-27, 19-25, 24-26) on October third and defeated Rehoboth Christian 3-1 (20/25, 2514 25-10, 25-19) ) on October 5. They will start districts on Thursday, October 12 in an away game with St. Pius (7-6,0-0).
The GHS boys’ soccer team is 1-11 and 0-3, after a 6-0 loss to Belen High School (2-13,1-2) on Thursday, October 5. They will play Valencia High School (5-7-1,0-2) on Thursday, October 12 in an away game.
The Lady Pirates soccer team are currently 010-1,0-3 after a 10-0 defeat by Belen last Thursday. They will face the Valencia Jaguars (47,1-1) this upcoming Thursday on the road as well.
The Laguna-Acoma Hawks football team is currently 2-5, 0-1 after a 58-22 defeat by Escalante High School on Friday, October 6. They will play the Santa Rosa Lions (71,1-0) on Friday, October 13 at home district game.
The Lady Hawks volleyball team is currently 9-3-1 after defeating East Mountain (1-4,0-1) on October 5. Their next game will be on October 10 against the Lady Rams of Cuba (10-4,1-0).